Richard Laqueur was a German historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 and philologist who was born in Strassburg.

He studied classical literature and history at the Universities of Bonn

University of Bonn

The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...

 and Strassburg

University of Strasbourg

The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....

, and in 1904 received his doctorate of philosophy. In 1912 he became a full professor at Strassburg, and during the same year was appointed professor at the University of Giessen

University of Giessen

The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...

. From 1914 to 1918 he performed military duties during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, and in 1919 returned to Giessen, where he remained until 1930. Laqueur was rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 at the university in 1922-23.

In 1930 he became a professor at the University of Tübingen, and two years later a professor at the University of Halle. Because of his Jewish beliefs, Laqueur was removed from his position at Halle in 1936, and in 1939 emigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 he returned to Germany, but was denied his former status at Halle due to bureaucratic obstacles. In 1952 he moved to Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, where he was later granted an honorary professorship.

Laqueur was a specialist of ancient Greek and Roman history, and was particularly interested in the economic history of their civilizations. He also performed extensive research of ancient historians such as Polybius

Polybius

Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...

 and Flavius Josephus.